![]() Thanks to Osprey and IPMS for the opportunity to review this fine book. There’s a lot of information packed into this narrow volume (a later edition will detail war-built DDs), which makes it a perfect primer for any fan of Royal Navy warships in general, and hard working destroyers in particular. While the limited space does not allow for a descriptive history of each ship, some highlights for specific vessels are pointed out (like the destruction of German tanks by destroyers Keith, Whitshed and Vimiera at Dunkirk, and the killing of Keith’s captain by a German sniper). The numerous profiles and illustrations highlight representative color schemes. The author also takes note of the painting of Royal Navy destroyers, from the standard schemes of the inter-war years to the varied camouflage patterns (many addressed individually by the ship’s captains) used in the different theaters during the war. Afridi To Nizam: British Fleet Destroyers 1937-43, John English (World Ship Society 2001) British and Empire Warships of the Second World War. Overall modifications for such things as armament (main, AA and ASW), radar and asdic are spelled out for each class. As a broad summary, British destroyers developed from the successful V and W-class destroyers of World War I, increasing in complexity until World War II. V- & W-class destroyers (long-range escorts)Įach section includes tables detailing the specifications of the class, plus the building history and fate of each individual vessel.Shakespeare- and Scott-class destroyer leaders.The author then goes on to describe, in as much detail as is possible within these limited 48 pages, the various classes of inter-war build vessels from earliest to latest, including: The opening chapter gives a general developmental history of the early destroyers of the Royal Navy, their design and development, roles and uses, weapons and general modifications, as well as their appearance and habitability. In this volume, naval historian Angus Konstam describes the attributes of over a dozen classes of destroyers. The wreck of the Titanic is 595 kilometres off the Canadian coast in the Atlantic Ocean, but these two vessels reside over 2,333 kilometres off the coast of West Australia, in the vast depths of the Indian Ocean.The British Royal Navy entered the Second World War with 160 destroyers, ranging from some holdovers from the Great War to recently commissioned vessels of vastly improved capability. What sets these two wrecks apart is their sheer remoteness. The iron ship is most likely the West Ridge that disappeared sailing from the UK to India in 1883, but it could also be the Kooringa (1894) or the Lake Ontario (1897). Gordon, a wooden vessel that disappeared in 1877 on a voyage between the UK and Australia, or the Magdala, lost in 1882 sailing between Wales and Indonesia. The wooden ship is believed to be either the W. They were discovered almost 34 kilometres apart at depths of between 3,540 and 3,960 metres. The following efforts to locate the debris inadvertently uncovered the wrecks of two ships, one wooden, one iron, thought lost forever beneath the waves. On 8th March 2014, a Malaysian Airlines operated Boeing 777 disappeared somewhere over Malaysia with 239 people on board. Read more about: Ancient History The oldest shipwrecks in history The wreck was initially discovered by Victor Vescovo and his team on 25th May 2019, and her identity was confirmed on 20th March 2021. Of the 327 crew members that set sail the previous year, 187 perished. USS Johnston also went down after being struck by enemy fire during the 'Battle off Samar'. Subsequently, the record for the deepest shipwreck dive was also broken here. The Guinness Book of Records tells us that the deepest part of the USS Johnston officially lies 6,468.9 metres down (over four miles) in the Emden Deep in the Philippine Trench. The heroics and bravery of the men onboard meant the USS Samuel B Roberts was later referred to as "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship". The World War Two battleship was found broken into two pieces at a depth of 6,985 metres off the coast of the Philippine island of Samar.Ĭolloquially known as 'Sammy B' or 'Sam Buca', the famous ship was sunk in October 1944 during the 'Battle off Samar' when it found itself fighting a fleet of much larger Japanese warships. The USS Samuel B Roberts snatched the record for the deepest shipwreck ever discovered on 26th June 2022. Read more about: Mysteries 4 wreckages lost and found in the Bermuda Triangle
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